Preparations for Terror (2)
A few months later, inside an abandoned building. The people analyzing the corpse there jumped to their feet the moment they saw a woman enter and greeted her with deep bows.
“Ice Queen, ma’am! You’ve arrived!”
“There’s no need to welcome me so enthusiastically.”
She shook her head with a weary expression at the group offering such crisp, respectful greetings.
“Who is the deceased this time?”
“Yes, ma’am. The victim this time is B+-class villain Toxin!”
Ice Queen asked the man about the victim, and he answered her question with precise, steady words.
“Since you called for me, I assume this is his work again?”
“Correct. The cause of death differs from the previous cases, but the untraceable firearm you mentioned, along with several objects in the vicinity disappearing, indicates this is Maker’s doing once again!”
The man handed her a pistol without any serial number. It was unmistakably Maker’s work.
“Haa…”
After letting out a short sigh, Ice Queen approached the corpse.
“B+-class villain Toxin…”
The villain who had died this time was Toxin, a B+-class villain who had stepped into the upper ranks.
‘An upper-tier ability user capable of producing various kinds of poisons.’
He had never developed a truly lethal toxin yet, but the danger level of his ability had earned him the B+ ranking.
And now that same villain lay dead with his eyes rolled back, tongue protruding, and his entire neck wrapped in dark bruises.
“Haah. Died differently again.”
Over the past month, she had witnessed a wide variety of corpses left behind by Maker’s villain hunts.
Poisoning through toxins, beating to death, drowning, burning alive, and now strangulation.
‘It really was like he was running experiments with murder.’
The reason they could still identify the culprit despite the varied killing methods was the unique trait of his ability: the phenomenon where nearby objects disintegrated into powder.
The untraceable gun that had been used and abandoned—perhaps to subdue the villain—served as clear evidence.
“…There’s nothing more worth investigating here.”
But that was all. Everything except the gun had vanished without a trace, so beyond confirming it was Maker’s work, they had learned nothing.
“…As expected? I’m sorry. We called you for nothing…”
“Not at all. Even if it’s only temporary, I am his ‘handler,’ so it’s worth coming if there’s even the smallest clue.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
“Please don’t bow so deeply. I wasn’t just being polite. I truly meant it.”
With those words, she left the building carrying a heavy sense of frustration and walked without any particular destination.
‘Just how many has he killed by now?’
The investigation had once again ended without progress, leaving Ice Queen stifled. Even though every victim was a villain, irredeemable trash, this was still wrong.
No matter what, he was killing people. Whatever his goal or intention, he was a murderer.
‘What on earth is that guy thinking?’
Some kind of experiment? Or maybe…
-…This is exactly why I hate heroes.
Was there another meaning? It could be an order from his organization.
“Haa…”
She didn’t know. Stuck in a situation where she could only chase his shadow without achieving anything, Ice Queen let out a long, heavy sigh.
‘This needs to be dealt with too…’
When she turned on her smartphone, the screen displayed several videos. In them, Maker was slaughtering villains using a variety of methods.
And those videos were spreading across every corner of the internet.
“Where is he even getting these videos from?”
The problems that followed his murders went far beyond the simple fact that people had died.
Whenever Maker killed villains and the Association began manipulating the media, an anonymous user would inevitably appear and start distributing the footage.
As a result, supporters of Maker were popping up like mushrooms, and the current situation praised the anonymous distributor.
Even if the Association blocked the videos or images a few hours later, the material had already spread too far for it to matter. It gave Ice Queen a headache.
‘A figure who’s difficult to track because he operates on the dark web.’
Every time the Association released an article slandering Maker, a video would drop as if in direct rebuttal.
‘It doesn’t seem like something Maker himself would do…’
Judging from his behavior so far, he probably wasn’t the one proactively releasing the videos. It was more likely that his organization was handling it behind his back, or that an entirely unrelated third party was responsible.
But Eclipse had no reason to deliberately polish Maker’s image.
‘Which naturally points to a third party hacking CCTV feeds and leaking the information…’
But why…?
Why did her head always start pounding the moment she got entangled with Maker? Ice Queen let out a deep, exhausted sigh.
“Let’s go.”
“Br-bring it.”
Inside Eclipse’s training hall, An Yeri and Lee Gayeon were sparring.
Rumble—
At An Yeri’s signal, Lee Gayeon manipulated the ground and charged toward her at high speed. She built up momentum and swung her sword at An Yeri’s neck.
Whoosh—!
“Th-there’s too much killing intent…”
An Yeri spoke lightly as she dodged the strike with ease.
Lee Gayeon didn’t panic. She activated her ability.
Vwoong—
She instantly teleported into An Yeri’s blind spot.
Clang—
“T-targeting the back is a t-tell for warp-type ability users… It’s too obvious.”
An Yeri blocked that attack just as casually. Lee Gayeon didn’t stop; she only increased her speed.
Clang! Kaang! Kang!
Lee Gayeon hurled stones at An Yeri using telekinesis between sword strikes, pressing the close-range fight. However—
“…Your swordplay is no match for me.”
Thud!
An Yeri lightly kicked Lee Gayeon, sending her flying backward.
“U-use your head more… Your thinking has gotten stiff, kid.”
“Hmph.”
Lee Gayeon snorted at the guidance and activated her ability once more.
Vwoong—
She teleported behind An Yeri again. As if she had predicted it, An Yeri turned her waist and prepared to swing her sword.
“The same trick won’t—”
“This time’s different.”
Rumble—
Right before An Yeri could swing, Lee Gayeon used her ability to lift the floor beneath her own feet slightly.
Without hesitation, she performed an aerial tumble that carried her in front of An Yeri.
The moment An Yeri’s sword was delayed while she recovered it—
Whiiiir—
Lee Gayeon manipulated the wind to disturb An Yeri’s vision and added acceleration to her swinging blade.
On top of that, she used telekinesis to lock An Yeri’s sword in place, preventing a quick recovery.
“My win.”
She was certain of victory.
Kaang!
“Eh.”
Until An Yeri swiftly discarded her weapon and slapped the flat of the blade away with her palm to block the attack.
“That’s cheating.”
Lee Gayeon’s cheeks puffed out like balloons. An Yeri scratched her head in confusion.
“…H-huh? Why? D-did I do something wrong…?”
“We agreed to use only swords. You used something else.”
“Th-this is a defensive technique…”
“Cheating.”
“A-and that move can be done b-bare-handed with proper t-technique…”
“Cheating.”
The more An Yeri tried to explain in a flustered panic, the more Lee Gayeon puffed out her cheeks.
“You can’t bully my sister, Gayeon.”
At the sudden male voice, both the girl and the woman turned toward the source.
“Oppa.”
The moment she saw him, Lee Gayeon tossed her sword aside and scampered over.
“Have you been training diligently?”
“Yeah.”
When she answered proudly, Maker chuckled and ruffled her hair.
“Y-you’re back, Maker…?”
“Yes, I’ve returned, Yeri. Is the training going smoothly?”
Maker took off his hat and gave it a few light taps. It looked like he had just returned from a mission; when he dusted the hat, dried blood fell away like powder.
“Y-yes.”
“I can do more than just teleport now. I learned close-quarters combat too.”
An Yeri nodded as if to confirm that Lee Gayeon had grown much stronger since the beginning.
Even An Yeri herself felt the girl had improved significantly compared to when they first started.
“In your view, Yeri, do you think she’s ready to be deployed on missions now?”
Maker’s question carried a subtle note of expectation. An Yeri thought for a moment.
‘I can’t call her combat efficiency good yet… but her sense for striking at openings is decent, and she’s gradually getting better at using her abilities. She still tends to treat her powers as separate from herself, but…’
That would probably improve with experience. Overall, An Yeri judged that the girl would no longer be beaten up wherever she went.
“…Yes. If it’s not a solo mission but one with t-two or more people… she should be fine…”
“Then it’s settled.”
Maker grinned at An Yeri’s answer, then looked down at Lee Gayeon, who was staring up at him intently, and held out his hand.
“Gayeon, shall we go commit some fun terrorism together?”
“Okay.”
Without hesitation, Lee Gayeon nodded and took his hand.
“Are all preparations complete?”
“They are.”
In Astra’s office, I had come to receive final approval for the terror operation.
‘Gayeon’s training seems to have covered the fundamentals.’
I had also finished testing the performance of the data acquired from the lab.
“This terror operation will be quite entertaining as well.”
“…I don’t have a twisted hobby of enjoying terrorism, you know.”
This time I intended to make use of the interesting materials obtained from the lab.
‘The legacy you people requested. I’ll put it to very good use.’
I smiled slyly. Astra looked at me with an expression that said she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Well… do your best. If this terror operation succeeds as well, I plan to transfer command authority over all future terror-related matters to you, Maker.”
“Does that mean…?”
“It means you won’t need to obtain permission for every single operation from now on.”
Of course, important matters will still require reports, right? Astra smiled as she looked at me.
“How does that sound?”
“I like it.”
I had planned to work hard anyway, but now I had even more reason to give this terror operation everything I had.